The Torch Chapter 4-Child In The Dark.

Tanaka having remembered that alcohol could be used as a disinfectant, something he had learned on TV shows about doctors, he decided to apply the sky vodka filled can on his wounds. He took the paper towels on the cutlery section of the store, poured alcohol on them and applied the papers on his bruises. The sting of alcohol was new to him and made the whole process troublesome as he wiped the sores. The last thing Tanaka wanted was getting an infection, something that had often scared him ever sense he was at Parinyenatwa hospital. The country had quite a few amazing hospitals, but in his experience, Parinyenatwa had earned the t.i.tle of death hospital. Other hospitals such as Saint Anne's, West End and so forth, were to him, decent alternatives. Family members he knew who had gone there had always died, being unable to be saved by the medical staff there. In addition, the number of gaunt people waiting in line to be treated was always disturbing. The fear of getting sick made him a hygiene freak, even overshadowing his b.u.m life persona. After applying the alcohol, Tanaka got a hold of a stack of magazines. He decided to pa.s.s the time by reading the content of the old world; binge reading through people magazine, men's fitness, Glamour and FHM. The stories of celebrities, particularly the Kardashans, and other teen star dramas in Hollywood revolted him. He skipped those sections and read on about movie releases, real life stories, fitness advice, and random articles. Tanaka was a border line close to average Joe guy, had an interest in reading books, but only books that were given to him. He wasn't the type to search or look for them pa.s.sionately, but had no problem digesting the content. In the end, it was all entertainment to him. 2hours had pa.s.sed as he munched through a packet of lays, browsing the content in hand. The sounds outside were still faint, almost as if they were a kilometre away from where he was. He could not hear any crawling obscenities and was happy that he was not being taunted by anything yet. The torch was mounted on top of a bread holder shelf to direct the light directly at the book. Due to its intensity, Tanaka had to place it on the shelf so that he could read properly without being blinded by the light. The women's section talked about women's periods, desires, s.e.x stories, and so forth. The hygiene stories were gross. The stuff that women liked and their daily biological problems made them seem more human and less superficial as how some portrayed themselves in their vanity. Tanaka's comfort and reading began to make him dose off. His body was now giving in to a state of comfort and security, a dangerous complacency that was not needed in a world of darkness and despair. This was showing as he was losing his mobility, suddenly closing his eyes and dosing off. In that moment a deformed creature which had been moving in the infinite void pa.s.sed by the mini supermarket. It noticed the broken gla.s.s door and saw the light. It began to sniff, smelling Tanaka's blood and natural musk. It sneaked into the store, slithering and making unusual movements as it approached the boy. The light was on the shelf and he had knocked out. The creature was planning on getting rid of the shelf and devouring the young lad. It drew nearer and nearer to its meal, going all ecstatic over the idea of relishing his flesh like early morning road kill. The boy's body was in full view and what this creature intended to do to Tanaka was something nasty. It wanted to violate him before eating him. Sowing its seed and reaping what it had sowed was its fetish. It stretched out its serrated claw like tentacles to nudge the shelf that had the torch. The small nudges which seemed like effortless exuded energy was actually moving the shelf. The first nudge made Tanaka's body fall sideways. He was still asleep, but the kind of dosing he was in was a deep lucid state that only came when someone was deprived of sleep for far too long. Tanaka had knocked out and he was at the mercy of this thing. The creature began to grin, drooling in the dark, waiting to ravish its meal. It nudged the shelf again and again, making the torch light become farther away from him. Its victory was moments away and the more it pushed the shelf the more Tanaka became reachable. One push and it would be all over. The monster mustered its final nudge, preparing to finally end Tanaka's life in a flash, but then suddenly his watch's morning alarm which had always rang to wake him up for school began to cry. The sudden noise woke Tanaka up and immediately made him rise. Upon this happening, the creature hammered all its might into the shelf, knocking it far from Tanaka's reach. Tanaka instantly reacted seeing the darkness quickly engulf his field of vision. The torch and the furniture holding it had flown ahead, leaving him stranded in the pitch black. Tanaka heard a crash and destruction of wood, which give him great distress. All that crossed his mind was whether the torch had been destroyed or not. He then sprinted forwards, chasing the white dot he could see in his now darkness engrossed field of vision, but what prompted him to run faster was the sound of a diabolical depravity pursuing him from behind, gnashing its teeth as it l.u.s.ted for his flesh. Tanaka was going to die; this was going to be the end of the young man's life.

Tanaka ran in the dark, blind as a mole, but without any excellent hearing to compensate for his disadvantage. His feet b.u.mped into a lot of things, things that grazed his legs, but did not slow down his determination. The creature behind him was breathing heavily like an asthma attack victim, shrilling its voice in the formless night. Tanaka dived into the debris, getting stabbed by a piece of wood, which lodged onto his left forearm, causing him to ooze lots of blood. His right hand's fingers struggled through the debris of what was left of the shelf and managed to get hold of his torch. Upon getting hold of it, he quickly turned to face the bizarre monstrosity on top of him. He pointed the torch directly at it and took in the very thing that accentuated ugliness with his eyes. The abomination had erected its corrosive, anvil like, frothing phallus to violate him. Its tip and shaft were like a bleeding drill, dripping pus and tiny b.l.o.o.d.y miniscule foetuses that were speaking an unknown language, something similar to how candle wax melted upon contact with a flame. Its abdomen was that of an amphibian with pimple like mumps, the ones you would find on an ebola victim. Its head was that of an encapsulated ball of putrid flesh, straight out of the frying pan of h.e.l.l. It was a despicable ent.i.ty that scared the s.h.i.t out of Tanaka. It even had the audacity to wiggle its abscess like mouth to utter its intentions.

"CHILD LET ME f.u.c.k YOU!!!!"

Tanaka screamed out loud, devoured by fear, which had regurgitated his body, restoring him back to the reality that had crippled his mind. The creature, which was on top of him suddenly exploded. It turned into liquid ash and ended up spoiling his entire body. Tanaka cried and panted at the fact that the creature had died, but he had no time to celebrate, the death of this being had attracted a lot of its friends. The horde of demons and unintelligent voices began to shatter the air waves. Tanaka who was stricken in fear also remembered the pain of his left forearm. He rose up from his position and ran towards the cutlery section. Seeing his own blood was scaring him and the fear of bleeding to death was dawning on him. He took the table cloth, plucked out the wood lodged in his left forearm and began to scream. The pain was excruciating indeed, it felt like the pain of a groin being repeatedly shot at by a nail gun. Tanaka removed the wood and felt the warmth of his own blood trickle down his fingers and torch. He applied the paper towel and opened the fridge to grab more vodka. He poured loads of it onto his wound and then wrapped a dish towel onto his wound. The pain made him cry, but what made him evoke more tears was the realisation that there was something inside the ceiling. The very thought of what was coming gave him hyper tension. It was now time to abandon ship and Tanaka did not waste time. His exhaustion was overpowered by his will to live, making him jump out via the gla.s.s door he had broken. He sprinted aimlessly, using his torch to direct him in the darkness. Every area he pointed at reviewed disturbing imagery of unspeakable proportions. Tanaka ended up turning right; pa.s.sing the travel plaza mini-mall that was adjacent to the mini supermarket that he came from. In his sudden burst of speed, Tanaka only had one thing in mind, to survive. He ran and ran until he took a regretful step. Tanaka who was in the heat of the moment had not directed his torch to the ground soon enough to save himself from the impending doom. He simply ran blindly into a pit, which had many horrors lying before him. Tanaka tumbled down an inclined heap of b.l.o.o.d.y and mutilated corpses, all stacked up to portray a twisted version of the human stair case. Regardless of his fall, he held his torch tightly, but fortunately, the bruises he got from the tumble didn't give him much pain. He quickly picked himself up and a.s.sessed the situation. What he realised was that he was in a valley like field of dead bodies, all mutilated and pruned like crushed hazel nuts. At the centre of this pit were demons dragging and mounting the dead bodies in a pile, like a coliseum of corpses all viewing the young Tanaka in distress. The creatures doing their gathering job soon took notice of Tanaka and began to draw near him. The fiends all crawled and marched slowly, closing in on the child and destroying all form of hope in him. Tanaka stood there, baffled in utter stupefication. This was the end, it was a good ride, or rather a nightmare, but he had tried his best to survive. The acceptance of death had flooded Tanaka's mind, an inundation of surrender and loss of will power, but somehow his fear surprisingly turned into rage, a hatred of what was giving him fear. Driven mad, the boy could no longer handle his despair anymore. He picked up a femur on the ground that still had its tendons and began to glance at his surrounding adversaries. They were all uglier than their next of kin. Tanaka glared like a mad dog, waving the bone violently as if he was intending to kill one of them. The world had gone to s.h.i.t, but he was not going to go down without swinging.

"Come at me you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! Come you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! Come on, come!!!"